Springfield daily republic. [volume] (Springfield, O. [Ohio]) 1887-1888, 1887-01-14
THE work OF BOOK AGENTS.
Some of tn. characteristics Of a Success
fui Agent.

Some of tn. characteristics Of a Success
fui Agent.
In the issues of the daily papers the eye
daily meets with advertisements which offer
in ro~e-tinted English the most iattering in
ducements to book agents These advertise
meHts ara answered by men OF all grades
abilitv and appearance and the publisher or
general agent then proceeds tn sound his
msn-tO di .0var. iu turt. whether the
candidate can be utI,i.@ or not Seven men
ere failures out OF every ten tried. The book
agent ough, to be of good address, good
education, SCrupuloUlSy neat AMI extremely
polite Such men can usually find more
congenisl work, and are only agents tenn
porarily There are many Of them, how
ever, who remain in the field year a. GER
year. maknS good living and meeting
with all manner of men and experiences.
The average agent makes little more than
a Ii, ing One day he is liable to make
enough 10 keep him II mourf aud with lad
weather or physical disability lac is running
the risk Of making nothing fora wrek. The
business resembles gambling more than any
thin. els ill its results II" Is d.ser, ina. of
better treatment than is usually accorded
him. A gt,,erat'ol "t John /. sullivan book
dSclt'N N'Nl'A w s'A'N 10 ~ l''"'' ''' I"'i'S
sion on that I.lnuv wlrcre ii nightly belongs,
and It IL II marvel that s,rm yenturcs"me
canvasser Icc> no; silsInl,, some ot hi> forci
lie nI-tEUds.
The profits in subscription i.u"tS are very
great. Tie average commission Ia agents l.
40 per cent, and as high as 81 per cent has
been paid. Three sales Il r.sy will.
rule furnish a good living to an agent, hut
-, 49, hat
nearly three calls TO a customer, and that
also much depends on the weather The sale
of Gen Grants Memoirs" was big thing
for book agents, Vet few Of them saved any
thing from it. The work being in two vol
umeS. required n double delivery and per
haps four calls to each subscriber. In other
words, the agent must make enough i'll one
day to last HIM four days, OF his work was
in vain. The average book Of travel, remin-
sciences or memoir IS sold by the agent for
g. OF that sum the canvasSer receives
81. 50, tn. general agent 60 cents and the
publisher has made n profit of so cents.
The manufacture Of ths book has cost 80
cents. Cheap editions of the works of Dick
ems, Scott, Thackeray. Irving and other
standard writers are being sold at prices
that seem wonderfully cheap, but the facts
are that better percentage Of profit Is made
than on the early and more expensive edi-
tiunS.
The sale of subscription books on the in
stalment plan is recent venture. Standard
works are sold on weekly payments. This
innovation opened up to the agent field that
he could otherwise never reach. II makes
sales easier but the agents commission Is
much less unless he pays the cash himself H..
does his own collecting. II he can afTor {.
do that he can make more by the instalnieEl
plan method. as he gets better price from
the customer Works hv man OF world
vide reputation. whether h be literary
man or not, always sell best. Grants name
sold his work, aud the sale would have been
nearly "a great had ii been n volume of
poems-Chicago Tribune.